Europe and Russia are locked in a stand-off over Moscow insisting that its
gas is paid for in roubles, raising the prospect of a halt in supplies as
the Kremlin doubles down on its demands.

Russian officials said on Tuesday that Moscow would not “supply gas for
free” to Europe, a day after G7 countries unanimously rejected President
Vladimir Putin’s directive.

“Payments will be accepted in roubles only,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry
Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency Interfax.
“Companies need to understand the changed market situation, the absolutely
new reality that has emerged amid the economic war waged on Russia.”

European leaders have said that payments must continue in euros or
dollars, questioning the legality of Putin’s proposed move in the gas
industry where long-term contracts reign supreme.

https://www.ft.com/content/7137b5da-f877-4032-b98e-fab6ffb78344

French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday told Putin in a call that it
would not be possible for western gas companies to pay for their contracts
in roubles and that France was against such a move, a senior French
official said.

European customers of Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas supplier, have
said the supply contracts do not allow for payment in roubles.

Pawel Majewski, chief executive of Poland’s state-controlled gas company
PGNiG, said last week that there was “not much possibility” of switching
Gazprom payments to roubles. “It is not the case that our counterparty can
just freely change the means of making payments as it wishes,” he said.

The three biggest buyers of Russian pipeline gas in Europe are German
utility Uniper, Turkey’s Botas and Italian energy company Eni, each
sourcing more than 20bn cubic metres of gas per year from Gazprom,
according to energy consultancy ICIS.

Austrian energy marketing group OMV said Gazprom Export, its contractual
partner, was yet to communicate a potential change of payment currency.
Uniper, RWE and Engie declined to comment.

Claudio Descalzi, Eni chief executive, said on Monday that a mutual
agreement would be the only way to change payment currency but it would be
difficult to agree “because we just don’t have” roubles.

Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center on
Global Energy Policy, said European buyers were in a difficult position
trying to adhere to EU plans to reduce reliance on Russian gas given
contracts that stipulate minimum purchases.

“You cannot just decide to reduce your quantities by two-thirds,” she
said. “There’s a sanctity of long-term contracts and that’s an important
thing in the gas business.”

France’s TotalEnergies has warned that breaking or modifying those
long-term contracts would be difficult without specific sanctions on the
energy sector.

“It’s hard to see how we could change the format of the contracts in any
way. If there are sanctions, then contracts can be suspended in some way,”
said one person close to a French energy group that imports gas.

Jonathan Stern, research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy
Studies, said: “You want to be responsive to the people saying you’re
fuelling the Russian war machine but we are talking about sums of money
that are eye-watering here.”

Gazprom and the central bank are set to report to Putin on Thursday with a
clear mechanism to facilitate payments in roubles. Analysts said Gazprom
could try to renegotiate contracts but that this would leave it vulnerable
to customer demands to reduce contract volumes or lengths.

The EU is currently buying 300mn cubic metres of Russian pipeline gas a
day. ICIS estimates that Gazprom earned about $340mn per day from gas
sales between the start of the war and March 15.

### - the words: balls & vice come to mind?

coz there's no way out of it: we HAVE to have that gas! even if they
demand boris dresses in a pink tutu to make the payments (lol) we HAVE to
have it or europe's gonna fall-over virtually overnight??

plus why ukraine HASN'T blown-up THEIR part of the pipeline yet in an
effort to force europe's hand into a direct conflict is surprising really,
although maybe they're saving that for later huh...

meanwhile, amidst the so-called peace-talks progress, last night ukraine
launched some kinda rocket right over the border miles into mother russia
itself and blew up some big arms dump there? (huge explosions recorded)
which russia will surely see as an escalation coz WHERE did they get such
an accurate + offensive rocket from plus the coordinates to send it to???

war is on the horizon for sure...

On Wed, 30 Mar 2022 02:29:34 +0100, slider <slider@anashram.com>
wrote:

>Europe and Russia are locked in a stand-off over Moscow insisting that its
>gas is paid for in roubles, raising the prospect of a halt in supplies as
>the Kremlin doubles down on its demands.
>
>Russian officials said on Tuesday that Moscow would not “supply gas for
>free” to Europe, a day after G7 countries unanimously rejected President
>Vladimir Putin’s directive.
>
>“Payments will be accepted in roubles only,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry
>Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency Interfax.
>“Companies need to understand the changed market situation, the absolutely
>new reality that has emerged amid the economic war waged on Russia.”
>
>European leaders have said that payments must continue in euros or
>dollars, questioning the legality of Putin’s proposed move in the gas
>industry where long-term contracts reign supreme.
>
>https://www.ft.com/content/7137b5da-f877-4032-b98e-fab6ffb78344
>
>French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday told Putin in a call that it
>would not be possible for western gas companies to pay for their contracts
>in roubles and that France was against such a move, a senior French
>official said.
>
>European customers of Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas supplier, have
>said the supply contracts do not allow for payment in roubles.
>
>Pawel Majewski, chief executive of Poland’s state-controlled gas company
>PGNiG, said last week that there was “not much possibility” of switching
>Gazprom payments to roubles. “It is not the case that our counterparty can
>just freely change the means of making payments as it wishes,” he said.
>
>The three biggest buyers of Russian pipeline gas in Europe are German
>utility Uniper, Turkey’s Botas and Italian energy company Eni, each
>sourcing more than 20bn cubic metres of gas per year from Gazprom,
>according to energy consultancy ICIS.
>
>Austrian energy marketing group OMV said Gazprom Export, its contractual
>partner, was yet to communicate a potential change of payment currency.
>Uniper, RWE and Engie declined to comment.
>
>Claudio Descalzi, Eni chief executive, said on Monday that a mutual
>agreement would be the only way to change payment currency but it would be
>difficult to agree “because we just don’t have” roubles.
>
>Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center on
>Global Energy Policy, said European buyers were in a difficult position
>trying to adhere to EU plans to reduce reliance on Russian gas given
>contracts that stipulate minimum purchases.
>
>“You cannot just decide to reduce your quantities by two-thirds,” she
>said. “There’s a sanctity of long-term contracts and that’s an important
>thing in the gas business.”
>
>France’s TotalEnergies has warned that breaking or modifying those
>long-term contracts would be difficult without specific sanctions on the
>energy sector.
>
>“It’s hard to see how we could change the format of the contracts in any
>way. If there are sanctions, then contracts can be suspended in some way,”
>said one person close to a French energy group that imports gas.
>
>Jonathan Stern, research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy
>Studies, said: “You want to be responsive to the people saying you’re
>fuelling the Russian war machine but we are talking about sums of money
>that are eye-watering here.”
>
>Gazprom and the central bank are set to report to Putin on Thursday with a
>clear mechanism to facilitate payments in roubles. Analysts said Gazprom
>could try to renegotiate contracts but that this would leave it vulnerable
>to customer demands to reduce contract volumes or lengths.
>
>The EU is currently buying 300mn cubic metres of Russian pipeline gas a
>day. ICIS estimates that Gazprom earned about $340mn per day from gas
>sales between the start of the war and March 15.
>
>### - the words: balls & vice come to mind?
>
>coz there's no way out of it: we HAVE to have that gas! even if they
>demand boris dresses in a pink tutu to make the payments (lol) we HAVE to
>have it or europe's gonna fall-over virtually overnight??
>
>plus why ukraine HASN'T blown-up THEIR part of the pipeline yet in an
>effort to force europe's hand into a direct conflict is surprising really,
>although maybe they're saving that for later huh...
>
>meanwhile, amidst the so-called peace-talks progress, last night ukraine
>launched some kinda rocket right over the border miles into mother russia
>itself and blew up some big arms dump there? (huge explosions recorded)
>which russia will surely see as an escalation coz WHERE did they get such
>an accurate + offensive rocket from plus the coordinates to send it to???
>
>war is on the horizon for sure...

Yep it's "IMMANENT" lol